


A Werewolf's path

by disaster_top



Series: A Snake in Lion's clothing [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Canon Rewrite, Child Abuse, Denial of Feelings, Does it qualify as slow burn yet?, F/F, Friendship, Gen, Gender Dysphoria, Gryffindor Pansy Parkinson, I'm honestly surprised I got this far, Light Angst, Misgendering, Pansmione - Freeform, Pansy Parkinson-centric, Pre-Relationship, Someone might have a crush, Trans Female Character, Trans Pansy Parkinson, Transphobia, Werewolves, no beta we die like men, of course, probably, we getting there
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25747042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disaster_top/pseuds/disaster_top
Summary: If Voldemort didn't formulate another plot that would end up killing her this year, Pansy was sure that the Dementors would.--------------Part 3 in the 'A Snake in Lion's clothing' series.
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Pansy Parkinson, Hermione Granger/Pansy Parkinson, Pansy Parkinson & Harry Potter, Pansy Parkinson & Ron Weasley
Series: A Snake in Lion's clothing [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1802563
Comments: 18
Kudos: 68





	1. The escaped criminal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lmao i lied, here's an early update

“What do you mean he escaped?”

Pansy jumped when she heard her father raise his voice at the ministry employee that was standing in front of him.

The man tried to maintain a professional stance but it was clear that Phillip was scaring him. “I regret to inform you of this but because of these events your presence will be needed more often at the Ministry.” Phillip exhaled loudly. “Very well. Owl me the details then and I’ll change my schedule, but your department better be doing everything they can to catch this man.”

“Of course Mr. Parkinson. Have a nice day.” The man said before disapparating. “Did that seem odd to you?” Pansy muttered as her father walked back upstairs. Naga lifted her head from Pansy’s shoulders. **_“I don’t usually concern myself with what happens in your father’s life but this seems like something you should talk to him about.”_ ** Pansy shrugged. “What am I supposed to say? ‘Hey father, I noticed that you were arguing with a ministry employee, can you tell me what it was about?’.’ Naga nodded. **_“Precisely.”_ **Pansy rolled her eyes. “It’s none of my business. Besides, I should be getting ready to leave.”

Naga hissed. **_“Will you be able to take me with you or is that not acceptable now either?”_ ** Pansy stood from the floor, dusting her pants off. “Probably not, father said that I need to be at least sixteen before you can be recognized as my familiar at Hogwarts.” Naga relaxed around Pansy’s neck. **_“I see.”_ **

“Paul! Come up here for a moment!” Pansy heard her mother call from the floor above. She exhaled sharply, calming herself before climbing the stairs and entering her mother’s room. “Yes, mother?”

Pamela stared down at her daughter sternly. “Paul, we must talk about your school attire.” Pansy held back the confused look that was about to cross her face. “What about it mother?”

The Parkinson matriarch sighed. “I have allowed you to go on with this charade long enough. If you wish to get over this phase of yours in the next few years that is alright but you cannot wear the female uniform anymore.”

Pansy frowned. “Are you telling me that I am not allowed to dress the way I want to anymore?” Pamela waved her hand around dismissively. “Now Paul, it is not that big a deal. Do you know how uncomfortable it makes me to see my son walking around school in a skirt? It isn’t normal Paul. Please understand that.”

“B-but you said that I could wear and be whatever I wanted in-” Pansy was silenced by a harsh slap connecting with her cheek.

“Do not talk back to me Paul! I have fed and clothed you for the last thirteen years! The least I expect from you in return is some respect. Yes, I let you carry on with this charade but now it is affecting me. So I am telling you now that you will start wearing the male uniform at Hogwarts or I promise you, you will suffer much worse than a simple slap!” Pamela hissed. Pansy grit her teeth to stop the tears from falling.

“Pamela! Let her be.”

Phillip rushed to stand in between the two. Pamela sneered. “See what you’ve created Phillip? You speak to him as if he is a girl and now look? Your son wants to keep wearing a skirt in public and you just sit back and allow it!”

“Pamela, she is going to go to Hogwarts in a few hours the least you could do is send her off on a good note.” Phillip pleaded with his wife. Pamela huffed in disdain. “I am not so horrible Phillip. All I ask is that Paul wear the uniform that corresponds with him, he can still ask people to address him by that ridiculous name, I will not take that away from him yet.”

Pansy took a breath and schooled her expression. “I understand mother, I’m sorry that I talked back. I was out of line.” Pamela nodded in appreciation. “Thank you, Paul, now go get dressed. Your father will be dropping you off soon.” Pansy nodded and headed towards her room.

**_“Your mother is a real nightmare.”_ ** Naga hissed angrily. Pansy collapsed onto her bed. “I don’t know how much more of this I can take Naga.” She mumbled, rubbing her eyes vigorously so as to stop any tears from forming. Naga slithered her way onto one of the pillows on the bed. **_“Your father is willing to intervene on your behalf. That’s something most kids don’t have access to.”_ **

Pansy laughed. “What? A decent family? Most kids have a caring mother and what do I have?” Naga hissed. **_“But you have a caring and understanding father.”_ **

“I guess,” Pansy mumbled. “I’m just tired of hearing the same thing over and over again. I already beat myself up over this, I don’t need my mother doing it too.” She rolled off her bed and began packing her trunk.

Naga slithered to the end of the bed. **_“Well, perhaps you should speak to your friends about this. They seem to understand better than your parents.”_ ** Pansy shook her head, throwing books into her trunk. “No. They should already get an award for dealing with me and my bloody identity crisis, I don’t want to drag them deeper into my issues. Besides, they already agree to call me a different name, that should be enough.”

**_“Then what are you going to do when you graduate? Your mother is going to immediately arrange a marriage with the richest pureblood family she can find and you will have to marry the daughter of someone you have probably never met and have children with them. Then what? What’s the point of rebelling this much only to then accept everything your mother throws at you when you’re out of school?”_ ** Naga asked.

Pansy kneeled down, pressing her forehead against the warm leather of her trunk. “... I don’t know.” She said quietly.

Naga didn’t push further and simply curled up on the silk sheets of the bed.

After an hour Phillip gently knocked on the door. “Pansy? Are you ready?”

Pansy peeled herself off of her bed and opened the door. Her father was awkwardly fidgeting as she dragged her trunk out of the room. “What is it, father?” Pansy asked when she finally made it to the living room. Phillip placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Listen, Pansy, I don’t want you to stay hung up on what your mother said-” Pansy cut in, sharply. “It’s fine father, I knew that she didn’t understand and it’s fine.” Phillip frowned. “It’s not fine Pansy, your mother crossed a line and she shouldn’t have hit you.” Pansy shrugged, ignoring the painful pang in her chest. “It’s fine, I’m going to have to grow up eventually.”

Phillip shook his head. “This isn’t some sort of childish rebellion Pansy, this is who you are-”

“Please-” Pansy sighed. “Just don’t bring it up, I just want to go to school and learn.” Phillip reluctantly left her alone. “Fine.”

***-***-***

By the time Pansy was sitting in a compartment in the Hogwarts Express, she had completely forgotten about the morning’s events.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione had kept her distracted with their summer stories. Pansy nearly collapsed laughing when Harry recounted what he had done to his aunt, Hermione was continuously telling them to keep it down since there was a fifth person in the compartment with them who seemed to be asleep.

“Did you hear about Sirius Black?” Ron whispered. Pansy raised an eyebrow. “What happened?” Ron grimaced. “Apparently he escaped from Azkaban a few days ago.” Pansy’s eyes widened in recognition. “Oh! My father was just talking about that with some ministry employee, apparently, they’re increasing his work hours because of it.” Ron nodded. “Same with my dad. This man will stop at nothing to kill Harry so the ministry has to put their best men out to look for him.” Hermione hummed. “As long as Harry stays close to Dumbledore no one will dare attack him.”

Pansy patted Harry’s shoulder. “Yeah, besides, you have us to protect you too.” Harry chuckled. “I’m sure you will scare off anyone who tries to hurt me.”

The other occupant of the compartment groaned lowly and shifted slightly. Ron frowned. “Who’d you reckon he is?” Pansy gestured towards the shabby clothes he was wearing. “Beats me.”

“He’s professor R. J. Lupin,” Hermione muttered. Pansy frowned. “How do you know that?” Hermione tiredly gestured towards the briefcase next to the stranger. “It’s written on his case.” Harry frowned. “I wonder what class he’s going to be teaching.” Pansy shrugged. “Isn’t it obvious? He’s going to be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts, though I don’t know if he’s really up for it.” Ron snorted. “He looks like one good hex could finish him off doesn't he?” He said jokingly.

They continued to talk for a good hour before the whole train suddenly came to a stop.

Hermione frowned, looking out the window. “Are we there yet?” Harry asked. Hermione shook her head. “No, do you think something went wrong with the engine?” Pansy hummed. “Maybe it was sabotage? With Sirius Black wandering around who knows what could happen.”

The lights suddenly shut off and the whole compartment was shrouded in darkness. Pansy began panicking when she saw the smoke coming out of her mouth, the compartment was suddenly extremely cold, the windows were even beginning to fog up.

“W-what is h-happening?” Ron stuttered out. Pansy readied her wand just in case.

A shadow appeared behind the compartment door as someone stared inside. Pansy could feel Harry tense up beside her as a grey, bony hand began sliding the compartment door open. Hermione moved closer to the window so as to put distance between her and the thing that had just entered their compartment.

Standing in the doorway was a tall cloaked figure. It was wearing a hood that completely hid its face and it seemed to be floating above the ground. Pansy froze when the creature glided closer to Harry, the boy was glued to the side of the compartment and was breathing heavily. One of the creature’s hands was reaching towards Harry’s face and Pansy could now see its mouth as it approached them.

She felt cold all over, not just on the outside but on the inside, she almost felt as if her insides had turned to ice. Pansy grasped her arms tightly, trying to maintain any sense of warmth but it seemed that the closer the creature got, the colder she felt.

The creature took a slow, rattling breath and Pansy felt ready to pass out. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the creature as it seemed to be sucking the life right out of her, and she could tell that Harry wasn’t faring any better. He was staring up at the creature with wide eyes and was trembling slightly.

A bright light suddenly illuminated the compartment and the creature let out a low sound before flying out of the compartment. Pansy shut her eyes tightly and pressed herself against the back of her seat.

“Are you alright?” An unfamiliar voice asked. Pansy opened her eyes cautiously and saw the man who had been sleeping in the compartment looking over her and Harry with worry clear on his face. “Uh...What was that?” Pansy asked shakily.

Lupin dug through his bag and pulled out a piece of chocolate. “Take this, it’ll warm you up.” Pansy cautiously took the treat and slowly nibbled on it. Lupin turned his attention to the other two Gryffindors. “That was a Dementor. Most likely one of the Dementors from Azkaban.”

Hermione cleared her throat. “What were they here for?” Lupin shook his head sadly as he tried to calm Harry. “Most likely looking for Sirius Black, though I don’t know how he would have ended up on here.”

Harry suddenly gasped. “He’s looking for me, so he might follow me to Hogwarts.” Pansy scoffed, finishing the last bit of her chocolate. “Don’t be daft Harry, with Dementors everywhere how do you think he would even be able to follow you on the train?” Ron shrugged. “The same way he escaped Azkaban I reckon.”

“What even happened?” Pansy mumbled tiredly. Ron answered. “Well, you started twitching and Harry was having a fit or something when the Dementor got close to you then Professor Lupin got up and sent a spell at it. He told it that none of us were hiding Sirius Black under our cloak and it left.”

“So...You didn’t hear anyone screaming?” Harry asked shakily. Ron shook his head. “No. But that was horrible. As soon as it came in I felt strange...Like-”

“You’d never be happy again.” Pansy finished. Lupin nodded. “That is what Dementors do, they feed on any and all negative energy. For now, you can relax, we’ll be at Hogwarts in a few minutes so it would probably be best if you changed into your uniforms.”

They did as Lupin told them and went to change out of their muggle clothes as the train brought them closer and closer to their destination.

When they finally exited the Hogwarts Express they were met with Draco’s sneering face. The Slytherin smirked and fixed his gaze on Harry. “Word says that you fainted on the train Potter. Too scared of the big bad Dementor weren’t you?”

“Oh shove off Draco, don’t we have a feast to get to?” Pansy cut in, tired of the constant fights between Harry and Draco. Draco sneered at her. “I see you’ve finally picked a side, Parkinson, though I wouldn’t expect anything else from a lousy Gryffindor.” Ron stepped forward, glaring at Draco.”Well, at least she has actual friends who don’t need to be paid off.” He snarled, gesturing towards Crabbe and Goyle who were flanking Draco.

The boy shrugged. “At least I have money to pay people. What about your family Weasley? I bet you can’t even pay your own brothers to keep you company-”

Hermione walked past Draco, gesturing for the others to follow her. Draco frowned. “H-Hey! I wasn’t done!”

“Well, I was,” Hermione stated, sending Draco a last glare before walking away.

By the time they entered the Great Hall, the sorting ceremony was finished and Dumbledore was about to start his speech. Pansy sat between Fred and Harry while Hermione and Ron sat across from them.

Fred leaned towards her and Harry. “What happened on the train, Malfoy was going around sayin’ that you fainted,” Harry grumbled. “There was a Dementor.” Fred nodded. “Understandable.”

Dumbledore stood, smiling down at the students. “Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all and one of them is very serious.” Dumbledore cleared his throat and continued. “As you are all aware of after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban who are here on ministry business.”

Pansy saw Harry twitch at the news if the Dementors were really stationed at the school who knew what they could get away with?

“They are stationed at every entrance.” Dumbledore’s voice dropped a notch, he clearly wasn’t happy with the Dementor’s presence either. “And while they are with us I will ask that none of you leave the school without permission, Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises...or even invisibility cloaks.”

Well that was clearly a jab at them

“It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I don’t want any of you to give them a reason for them to harm you. I will ask the prefects and our new head boy and girl to make sure that no student garners the ill will of any Dementors.” Dumbledore sighed, placing an easy going smile on his face. “Now, on a lighter note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.”

The man who had chased the Dementor out of their compartment stood and smiled at the students. “This is professor Lupin, who kindly accepted to fill the post of Defence against the Dark Arts this year.”

Some scattered claps were heard around the room. Ron leaned towards Pansy and chuckled. “Look at Snape’s face.” Pansy snickered. “He looks absolutely livid doesn’t he?” Ron nodded, falling silent as Dumbledore continued with his announcement.

“Next, we have a new teacher for Care of Magical Creatures. I am delighted to say that Rubeus Hagrid will be taking charge of this class on top of gamekeeper duties.” The whole Gryffindor table erupted into applause and Pansy honestly was happy for the half-giant. Hagrid was nervously standing and smiling at the students, obviously, he hadn’t expected such a reaction.

Harry chuckled good-naturedly. “We probably should have known, who else would have sent us to get a biting book.” Ron nodded. “At least the thing didn’t explode in our face.” Pansy gestured across the table to Seamus. “Oh come on Ron, you know that explosions are Finnigan’s department.” Seamus stuck his tongue out at her. “Stuff it, Parkinson!” Pansy snickered, waving at him. “Love you too Finnigan.”

“You are unbelievable,” Hermione muttered, not able to hold in the smile that graced her face. Pansy grinned at her. “Come now darling, after two years you’d think you’d be used to this.” Hermione giggled. “I suppose the great Pansy Parkinson is still filled with surprises hmm?”

Ron snorted, already stuffing his face with pudding. “You don’t know the half of it ‘Mione.”

When the feast was over the four of them went to congratulate Hagrid at the teacher’s table. The half-giant laughed nervously. “Thanks yeh four. Dumbledore came right down to my hut after Professor Kettleburn retired, this is what I’ve always wanted-” Pansy smiled. “You deserve this Hagrid, you’ve worked hard for it.” Hagrid wiped his eyes. “Yer all making me emotional. Thanks, really. Yeh four have always helped me-”

McGonagall eventually came to shoo them away, saying that they needed to be in their Common rooms early from now on. Apparently there was a new curfew rule that Pansy was sure they would probably break by next week.

Ron pulled her aside when they entered the Gryffindor Common room. He grabbed her arm and led her to one of the corners of the Common room and whispered. “Why are you wearing pants?”

Pansy raised an eyebrow at him. “Uh...because I can’t walk around in only my knickers?” Ron groaned. “That’s not what I meant. Why aren’t you wearing the girl’s uniform? You’ve been wearing it since...forever.” Pansy shrugged. “I thought I was due for a change of wardrobe.”

Ron eyed her skeptically. “And you expect me to believe that? I know I’m slow but I’m not stupid Pansy, give me some credit.” Pansy chuckled sardonically. “Fine, but this stays between us, got it?” Ron nodded. Pansy made sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation before speaking. “My mother told me that she doesn’t want me to wear the girl’s uniform anymore. It’s fine though.”

“Are you fine Pansy?” Ron asked. Pansy opened her mouth to respond then froze. Was she okay? Sure she always said that she could deal with her mother being like this and that she didn’t mind complying with her mother’s demands but then why has it been getting harder and harder to say and justify that to herself?

Pansy leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling. “...I don’t know Ron. Seriously. The act of wearing pants isn’t what’s bothering me it’s...something else...Maybe the meaning behind it?” Ron nodded. “Well, when you’ve figured out what it is, just know that you can talk to me about it, Harry too...And Hermion-”

“I am not telling Hermione,” Pansy stated quickly. Ron shrugged. “Sure. Do you want to come join the others? Seamus got this pack of candy that can make you sound like an animal!” Pansy grinned. “Let’s go, Weasley, I want to see you talk like a monkey.”

Seamus, Dean, and Harry were already sitting in a circle in front of the fireplace as Seamus took out a huge bag of candy.

“I have recruited Pansy into our circle,” Ron exclaimed happily. Pansy rolled her eyes good naturally. "As if I wasn't already part of your circle." Seamus laughed as the two joined their group. “Who wants to go first?” Pansy shoved Ron forward. “Do it, Weasley.” Ron gingerly picked one up, this candy was orange and Ron was hoping that it was also orange flavored.

He immediately swallowed it as Pansy and Dean clapped. The others waited with bated breaths for Ron to try to speak. Instead of actual sentences, Ron roared at them. Seamus collapsed on the floor laughing. “Oh, the irony!” Pansy snickered. “Of course, a lion for a Gryffindor right?”

When Ron finally got his voice back he grabbed a grey candy and handed it to Pansy. “Go ahead Parkinson, let’s see what your spirit animal is.” Pansy rolled her eyes but reluctantly ate the candy. She grimaced slightly at the taste. Sure she didn’t know what dirty mildew tasted like but she guessed that if it had a taste this would be it.

“Say something Pansy,” Harry asked excitedly, eager to hear what his friend sounded like. “Yeah come on Parkinson, or are you a chicken?” Seamus teased. Pansy tried to tell him to sod off but instead, a growl escaped her throat.

Dean laughed. “Oh, you angered the wolf, Seamus.” Pansy grinned and threw her head back as she let out a long howl much to the other four's amusement.

“Who was that?” Neville asked frightfully as he descended the stairs to the boy’s dorm. Ron pointed back at Pansy who had stood and was grinning at Neville. “You’ve awoken the wolf.” Neville shrieked when Pansy let out a playful growl and ran towards him at full speed.

Ron and Seamus fell to the floor laughing while Harry leaned on the couch for support. Pansy eventually let Neville go after muttering an apology and returned to the other four. “That was absolute gold.” Dean chuckled.

Pansy shrugged, jokingly flipping her hair. “Maybe I truly am a wolf. You’ll never know.”

Harry reached for one of the red candies, eager to try it. “Wait, Harry no-” Seamus began but Harry had already eaten it. Steam suddenly started to come out of Harry’s ears as the others were swept up in another fit of laughter. “What animal is that supposed to be? An angry wasp?” Ron choked out as he continued to laugh while leaning against Pansy’s shoulder.

As far as first nights at Hogwarts go, Pansy was sure that this was the best for all five of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I haven't lost my motivation yet so I'm still gonna be consistently updating this fic. Updates will be every Monday for now >:)
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment if you enjoyed this chapter!


	2. Tea leaves and bad news

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At least this year the universe had the decency to tell Pansy that she was going to die.

“If I hear Malfoy make one more Dementor joke, I’m going to hex him,” Harry muttered angrily as he finished his breakfast.

Ever since the whole Dementor incident happened on the train, Draco had taken every opportunity he could to make fun of Harry. Breakfast that day was no exception, apparently.

Ron sent the Slytherin a glare for good measure while Pansy shook with laughter. “Just ignore him, Harry,” Hermione said, pointedly ignoring the Slytherin table. “He was probably as scared as you when the Dementors entered his compartment.” Pansy grinned. “Yeah. We’ll see how happy he is when we beat him in Quidditch.” Harry offered her a small smile and nodded.

“Here are your timetables,” Percy said as he handed each third-year their timetable.

Hermione smiled. “Look, we’re starting some new subjects today.” Pansy glanced down at her timetable and frowned. “I don’t remember agreeing to take Divination.” Harry nodded. “I didn’t either.” Ron shrugged. “At least we’re all in Divination.”

“Hermione, what the bloody hell are you playing at?” Pansy asked when she looked at her schedule. Hermione smiled. “I spoke with Professor McGonagall, and she said that I could take every subject available.”

Pansy laughed in disbelief. “Yes, that’s great and all, but how are you going to attend all your classes? See look.” She pointed at the 9 am slot on Hermione’s timetable and spoke sarcastically. “At nine, you have Divination, and if you look under here at nine, you also have Muggle studies, and if you look under that, you have Arithmancy at nine so what I want to know is how the bloody hell you’re going to be in three classes at one.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s any of your business Pansy. All you need to know is that Professor McGonagall approved.” Hermione stated. Pansy chuckled, leaning her chin on her palm. “I’m not saying that you can’t do this darling, I just want to make sure you know what you’re doing.” Hermione nodded. “In that case, you can rest assured that I know exactly what I am doing.”

Ron rolled her eyes. “If you two are done with your little lovers spat, we need to get going to Divination.”

Pansy snickered. “Please, Granger would be lucky to date me.” Hermione raised an eyebrow playfully. “Oh? Are you saying that I’m not pretty enough for you, Pansy? That hurts.”

Harry tried to stifle his laughter at the look of utter fear that took over Pansy’s face. Ron chuckled. “Oh, is Parkinson in trouble?” Pansy glared at him. “Shut up, Weasley. Look ‘Mione, I didn’t mean it like that darling, I swear. Anyone would be lucky to date you-”

“It’s fine, Pansy. I was joking.” Hermione giggled. Pansy blushed and chuckled awkwardly. “Yeah, right, okay. We should probably go to Divination now…”

As they walked up the stairs towards the Divination classroom, Ron fell into steps with Pansy. “Smooth Pansy, was that the ‘Parkinson charm’ at work?” Pansy grumbled. “No. That was a slip of the tongue, Weasley.” Ron snorted. “Sure looked like one. Listen, if you ever want to ask ‘Mione out please tell me. I wouldn’t want to miss that train wreck.” He teased.

Pansy shoved his shoulder playfully. “I don’t like her like that Ron. But if you want to go ahead and ask her out I’m sure you would turn as red as a tomato.” Pansy joked, but a part of her wondered if what she said was true.

The Divination room was a circular shape and instead of chairs had cushions set around each table that was present around the room.

“Welcome children, it is nice to see you all in the land of the living. I am Professor Trelawney.” The woman standing near the desk in the room said in a dreamy voice as she adjusted her glasses. “Please have a seat and we will begin our journey through the veil.”

Pansy snickered. “That sounds like a death prediction,” She muttered. Ron bit his tongue to contain his chuckle.

Professor Trelawney waited for all the students to enter and find a seat around the classroom before speaking. “Welcome all of you. You have chosen to study Divination, the most difficult of all magical arts. I must warn you at the outset that if you do not have the Sight then there is very little I can do to help you. Books can only take you so far in this art.”

Hermione could practically feel the smug looks that Pansy and Ron were giving her so she kept her gaze fixed pointedly on Professor Trelawney. Said professor approached Neville and shook her head. “Tell me my boy, is your grandmother well?” Neville nervously nodded. “I-I think so.” 

Trelawney sighed. “I would not be so sure. The first term will be devoted to reading tea leaves and next term we will progress to palmistry, By the way, dear beware a red-haired man.” She said to Parvati who immediately turned to Ron and moved away from him.

“Now, I want you all to divide yourselves into pairs and drink the tea from the glass that is present in front of you. Drink all of the tea then swirl the residue three times with your left hand, place the cup upside down for two minutes then give it to your partner. You will attempt to read the tea leaves using pages five and six of _Unfogging the future_.”

Pansy held her cup and looked down at its content, she grimaced. Ron brought his cup up and clinked it against Pansy’s cup. “Good luck partner.” Pansy nodded and downed the tea in one gulp. They both followed through with each step before looking at the dregs that rested at the bottom of the cup.

“You see anything?” Ron asked her. Pansy shrugged. “Soggy brown clumps.”

“Broaden your minds and look past the mundane!” Trelawney said loudly.

Pansy turned towards Hermione, looking down at the cup in her hand. “What do you see?” Hermione frowned. “This looks like a sun so…” She looked up at Harry. “That means that you’re going to suffer but you’re going to be happy about it.” Ron snorted. “I reckon your inner eye needs some testing ‘Mione.”

“Yeah well, you have a cross thing here so there are trials and suffering in your future,” Pansy said as she reviewed the cup. Ron rolled his eyes. “Thanks for predicting my inevitable doom, Parkinson. Yours looks like a bowl hat...Maybe that means you’ll work for the Ministry of Magic.”

Ron turned the cup around and frowned. “Wait, now it looks like an acorn, which means that you’ll win a bunch of money soon.” Pansy snorted. “I’ll make sure to lend you some Ron.” The redhead chuckled. “You better, now there’s this animal thing in the corner...I think it’s a sheep...No it’s a hippo-”

“Let me see,” Trelawney said as she took the cup from Ron’s grasp. “The shield and the snake...you will be hurt badly while protecting someone that you love...My dear, this is not a happy cup.”

Pansy scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back. “What now? You going to tell me that I’m going to die in the next week?” That earned her a few scattered laughs around the class but Trelawney suddenly yelped and threw the cup away.

The whole class hushed and watched their professor as she shook her head frantically. “Oh, my dear I am so sorry. This shouldn’t have happened-” Harry stood frightfully. “Why? What is it?” Pansy would be lying if she said that she wasn’t even a little scared and confused.

Trelawney moved closer to Pansy and spoke sadly. “My dear...You have the Grim.” Pansy raised an eyebrow. “The what?” Half the class was now looking at her with pity. “The Grim! The giant spectral dog that haunts churchyards! My dear, it is an omen of death!”

Hermione looked at the cup and shrugged. “I don’t think it looks like a Grimm.” Pansy was about to speak when Trelawney cut in, staring at Hermione with a sad look. “You’ll forgive me for saying this dear but you have very little aura around you. You seem to have very little receptivity for the future.”

Blaise stood from the corner where all the Slytherins had piled up away from everyone else and held the cup in his hands, turning it upside down. “I guess it does look like the Grimm but if you turn it like this it looks like a hat.”

“Well, if you are all done telling me when I’m going to die can we please move on?” Pansy grumbled, eager to change the subject. Blaise sent her an apologetic smile and moved back to sit with the Slytherins.

Trelawney cleared her throat and glanced at the clock behind her. “I-I think we will leave the lesson here for today. You may pack up and leave. Oh, dear.” She pointed at Neville. “You will be late next class so do try to catch up with the classes work beforehand.”

Hermione rolled her eyes as Neville nodded frantically, fully believing what the teacher had said. “I don’t understand why anyone would believe such illogical predictions.” Pansy snickered. “Well, I wouldn’t call them illogical.” Harry frowned. “You wouldn’t?” Pansy shrugged. “We might have the worst luck ever Potter. In our first year, we had to fight a dark wizard and in our second year, we were faced with a giant snake and the Dark Lord. Remember?”

Ron hummed. “Yeah but we’re all still alive so clearly our luck isn’t that bad.” Pansy chuckled. “I guess you have a point. But still, if I die I’m giving my broom to Harry and Hermione is getting my owl.” Ron pouter. “And what do I get?” Pansy spread her arms wide and grinned at him. “An existence deprived of me.”

“Fair.” Ron nodded along with her.

Hermione scowled at them. “Pansy! Don’t joke about that!” Pansy rolled her eyes. “Calm down ‘Mione, I don’t mean it.” Hermione pursed her lips while Harry cut in. “With our luck, you might just jinx yourself.”

“Harry! Don’t enable her!”

Pansy mockingly clutched at the fabric of her shirt and fell to her knees. “Oh no! I can feel my life leaving me! Tell my mother that I don’t regret anything.” Ron snickered and played along, falling to the floor as well. He wrapped an arm behind Pansy and threw his other arm over his eyes. “What a tragedy! I suppose we’ll have to go raid her trunk for anything useful now.”

“Suddenly I can breathe again,” Pansy exclaimed before smacking Ron over the head and standing. Hermione scowled at her disapprovingly. “Pansy, please don’t joke about that.” Pansy shrugged. “Alright. I’ll stop, only because you told me to though.”

“What is happening here?” A bored voice asked from behind them.

Pansy grinned at Snape while the other three Gryffindors nervously froze. “Hey, Professor. We just got done with Divination.”

Snape raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Oh really? Who got the death prediction this time?” Pansy shrugged. “I did.” Snape tilted his head slightly. “I see. Don’t pay it any mind Parkinson, Sybill has predicted the death of a student every year and they are all still very much alive and well.” Snape’s mouth twitched upwards slightly. “Though, if you do die I suppose you could be exempted from that Potion essay that I will be expecting on my desk tomorrow morning.”

Pansy nodded. “Of course Professor.” Snape nodded towards the other three. “Good day.” And he left.

“Am I dreaming?” Ron muttered as he watched Snape walk away from them in disbelief. Pansy frowned at him. “Why?” The redhead gestured in Snape’s general direction. “That’s Snape! And he actually smiled when he was talking to you! He never does that.” Pansy shrugged. “He’s a family friend Weasley. Besides, aren’t you happy he basically said that I wasn’t going to die?”

Ron rolled his eyes. “Sure. But Snape is a potion professor, I wouldn’t trust what he said.” Hermione huffed. “Don’t brush off what he said just because you dislike him. Divination is a very woolly subject to begin with.” Ron gestured vaguely. “There’s nothing woolly about the Grim in a cup.” Harry cut in. “Ron might be onto something. We shouldn’t dismiss something that serious.” Ron snorted. “Besides, Trelawney said you didn’t have the right aura. It’s not our fault if you finally found a subject you don’t excel in.”

Pansy suddenly collided with Hermione as the bookworm stopped abruptly and glared at Ron. “I would rather be bad at Divination than pretend that I can see death omen to pass. Arithmancy was much more interesting.” Pansy grumbled as Hermione walked away from them in a huff. “What is she on about? She hasn’t even been to her Arithmancy class?”

***-***-***

After lunch, Pansy was glad to be able to get out of the castle.

The grounds around Hogwarts were greener than ever and despite the Dementor’s presence on the outskirts of the school, the weather was nice and warm. Care of Magical Creatures seemed to be the only class where they would be working outside beside Herbology, and it was just her luck that it was a joint class with Slytherin.

“I still can’t believe Hagrid got a job as a teacher,” Daphne muttered to herself. Ron raised an eyebrow at her and Daphne scoffed. “I don’t mean it like that. I just never expected Hagrid to want to teach a class.”

Harry shrugged. “I think he’s more excited about showing us different dangerous creatures than teaching us.” Theo nodded along. “It will be interesting to see what animals Hagrid brings for us to look at.” Pansy laughed, slapping her hand against Ron’s back. “Yeah. As long as it’s not an Acromantula or Weasley might die from a heart attack.”

Ron shoved Pansy’s shoulder in retaliation. “Piss off Parkinson. I’m sure you wouldn’t like it if a giant spider tried to kill you either.” Pansy playful shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not.”

“Think fast Parkinson!” Blaise yelled. Pansy turned towards him and shrieked when she saw the...whatever it was that Blaise threw at her come sailing towards her. Pansy managed to grab the thing in midair and glared at Blaise. “What the heck Zabini?”

Blaise snickered, grabbing the book from Pansy’s hand. “Don’t take it personally Pansy, it was just a joke.” Pansy glared down at the book that was still squirming in Blaise’s arm. “I can’t believe that’s the book Hagrid asked us to get. How are we even supposed to read from it?” Daphne shrugged. “There must be a way. He wouldn’t ask us to get textbooks that we can’t even use.”

Hagrid was waiting in front of his hut for his class to arrive. When he saw the group of students approach him he waved at them. “Come on now. I’ve got a real treat for yeh today. Everyone follow me .”

Harry tensed up when he saw Hagrid lead them towards the Forbidden Forest. He visibly relaxed when instead, Hagrid took them to a paddock near the forest. Hagrid gestured for them to stand around the paddock as he entered. “Just gather around here. Now I want yeh to open yer books-”

“How?” The familiar voice of one Draco Malfoy sneered. Hagrid frowned. “Eh?” Draco held up his copy of _The Monster Book of Monsters_. “How do we open the book?”

Hagrid turned towards the rest of the students in confusion. “H-has no one bin able ter open the book?” Pansy grimaced guiltily while the rest of the students shook their heads, some were more annoyed than others. Hagrid sighed sadly. “Yeh gotta stroke it, look-” He grabbed Hermione’s book and ran a finger against the spine of the book. The book shivered before opening in his hands and staying still.

Draco sneered. “Oh, how stupid of us. We obviously should have known that we needed to stroke the thing beforehand.” Hagrid fiddled with his fingers nervously, glancing at Hermione. “I-I thought they were funny.”

“Oh yes tremendously funny! Why didn’t anyone else think of giving us giant books that can rip our fingers apart?’ Draco said sarcastically. Daphne offered Hagrid a small smile. “The books are interesting, maybe next time you can also tell the students how to calm the book down?”

Hagrid nodded, sending Daphne an appreciative smile. “Yes, that would be better I suppose. Now I need to get the creatures.” Hagrid walked off into the trees while the students waited at the entrance of the paddock.

“When did you get here?” Ron asked Hermione who was busy reading through her now docile book. “I’ve been here Ron.” Pansy frowned. “Ron has a point, Hermione, I don’t remember seeing you with us when we were walking here-” Hermione sighed deeply, sending the two Gryffindors a pointed stare. “I don’t want to sound rude but you two don’t have the longest attention span so it honestly shouldn’t be surprising that you didn’t see me.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes and was about to retort when a loud shriek came from the paddock. Hagrid had returned with a herd of horse-looking birds in tow. Theo gasped happily. “Hippogriffs!”

Hagrid nodded. “You’re right Theodore. These are all Hippogriffs. They’re beautiful aren’t they?” Pansy stared at the beasts in awe, she was tempted to reach out and touch the feathers of the creatures but they’re beaks looked dangerous.

“Now, the first thing yeh gotta know about Hippogriffs is that they’re proud creatures. You can easily offend a Hippogriff and if you insult one it might be the last thing yeh do.” Hagrid explained as he gently led one of the Hippogriffs closer. “Yeh always wait for the Hippogriff ter make the first move. It’s polite, see? Yeh will walk towards it an’ bow an’ wait. If it bows back yeh can touch it but if it doesn’t then yeh need to slowly back away, an’ yeh need to stay bowing, any sudden movement can irritate a Hippogriff.”

Hagrid clapped his hands together eagerly. “Now, who wants ter go first?”

The whole class remained silent and some even backed away from the enclosure. Pansy rolled her eyes and raised a hand. “I’ll try.” Pansy contained another eye roll when she heard the collective sighs from the students around her. Parvati approached her cautiously and whispered urgently. “But Pansy, what about your tea leaves?” Pansy raised an eyebrow at the tan Gryffindor. “I’ll be fine, besides, Hagrid can step in if anything happens.”

Pansy entered the paddock and was led towards one of the more muscular-looking Hippogriffs in the paddock. Hagrid gestured towards the Hippogriff. “Alright, Pansy. Let’s see how yeh get on with Buckbeak.”

Hagrid released Buckbeak from the chains around its neck and moved the Hippogriff towards Pansy. Hagrid let the Hippogriff go when it was standing a few meters away from Pansy, who immediately began leaning her head and torso forward in an awkward bow.

“Easy Pansy, remember to maintain eye contact.” Pansy quickly looked up at Buckbeak and tried to seem calm in front of the Hippogriff who simply tilted its head at her. “Try not ter blink. Hippogriffs don’t trust yeh if yeh blink.” Pansy forced her eyes to remain open even as they began tearing up.

When the Hippogriff continued to fix her with its orange eyes Hagrid intervened. “Okay Pansy, now back up slowly-” To everyone’s surprise, Buckbeak moved one of its taloned legs forwards and lowered its head in what was clearly a bow.

Hagrid clapped happily. “Well done Pansy! Yeh can go and touch her now. Go on, pat her beak!” Pansy nervously took a few cautious steps towards the Hippogriff. She slowly extended her hand and stopped herself from flinching when Buckbeak moved her head forward, causing Pansy’s hand to make contact with the Hippogriff’s head.

Pansy felt a smile growing on her face as she caressed the beast’s beak. Applause suddenly erupted from behind her as the rest of the students cheered. Pansy felt a pang in her chest when she looked back and saw that Draco was pointedly ignoring her, she had hoped he would get over himself but it seemed that that reconciliation would take some work.

“Now, would yeh like to ride her?” Hagrid asked her. Pansy’s eyes widened in glee. “I can?” Hagrid chuckled good-naturally. “She seems to like yeh, I’m sure Buckbeak would be fine if yeh flew around the school a little.” Hagrid helped Pansy find a comfortable place on the Hippogriff. “Now remember, don’t pull on any of her feathers, she won’t like that.”

Pansy was definitely not expecting Hagrid to slap the Hippogriff and order it to fly. Pansy panicked and wrapped her arms around the neck of the Hippogriff as it propelled itself into the air with her on its back.

After a few seconds, Pansy was able to sit up on the Hippogriffs back and look down at the ground below. Buckbeak easily soared through the sky as it flew Pansy over the Great Lake. Pansy laughed, loving the feel of the wind in her hair, sure it wasn’t like riding her broom but this was nice.

Buckbeak flew her around the castle before beginning to descend back down towards the paddock. Pansy could still feel the adrenaline coursing through her veins when Buckbeak safely landed on the ground.

Hagrid helped her get down from the Hippogriff and he patted her on the back. “Well done Pansy. Ok, who else wants ter go?”

Theo stepped forwards along with a few other students, it seemed that the fact that Pansy wasn’t maimed or killed by the Hippogriff had allowed some of the students to push their fear away. Pansy went to stand with Ron, Harry, and Hermione while the other students went through the steps she did.

Ron shook his head. “Bloody hell Pansy, I thought you were never coming back.” Pansy grinned. “Yet here I am. It wasn’t that bad Ron.” Harry hummed. “Maybe I should try it.” Ron gestured towards the paddock. “Knock yourself out Harry, I’m going to stay here.” Pansy snickered. “Chicken.” Ron held his hands up in surrender. “Maybe, but at least I’ll be a living chicken.”

A high pitched scream came from the paddock and pansy immediately looked back. She thought Harry had been hurt but apparently, it was Draco who had screamed. The Malfoy heir was on the floor, twisting around as he grasped his arm tightly. “I’m dying!” He whined. “I’m dying! It killed me!”

Hagrid ran towards him, observing his wounded arm and shaking his head. “Yeh aren’t dyin’. Hermione, yer in charge until I get back.” He picked Draco up and began running towards the castle.

Pansy frowned, feeling a little scared for Draco. “What happened?” Theo wiped his hand off on his pants. “Draco insulted the Hippogriff, it seems your previous ride was rather angry about its change in rider.” Pansy snorted. “Wow, did it get him?” Theo nodded. “It was a simple scrap, he’ll be back on his feet in a few hours.”

“They should sack him straight away! He can’t keep teaching here!” Goyle yelled. Hermione raised an eyebrow. “I hardly think Malfoy was injured that badly, there are professors here who have done much worse.” Daphne nodded along. Goyle narrowed his eyes. “Draco could have died!” Pansy shrugged. “He should have known better, Hagrid told him not to insult a Hippogriff and that’s exactly what he did.”

One of the other Slytherins glared at Pansy. “We didn’t expect a filthy Mudwallower like you to understand anything Parkinson.”

Pansy narrowed her eyes at the Slytherin and hissed. “I would recommend you shut that mouth of yours before you get hurt too.” The Slytherin backed away from Pansy slightly before huffing. “W-well whatever. This doesn’t change that you are a blood traitor-”

The Slytherin suddenly found herself pinned against one of the trees with Pansy setting before her. “Did you not hear what I just said? I told you to shut your mouth before I put a muzzle on you and you didn’t listen. I guess I’ll have to shut you up myself-”

“Pansy!”

Pansy froze, turning back and seeing Hermione stalking towards her with a stern look on her face. “Stop. There’s no point in arguing with them. Come on, the others are heading back towards the castle.”

Hermione only had to look at Pansy for a good five seconds before the dark-haired Gryffindor moved away from what could have been her next victim and followed after Hermione.

“That’s right! Keep licking that Mudblood’s arse and you’ll see where it gets you!” A Slytherin jeered from behind her. Pansy was about to turn back and shoot a spell at the mouthy Slytherin but Hermione immediately grabbed her hand and forced her to keep walking up towards the castle. “Leave it, Pansy. They’re not worth it.”

Pansy huffed, shoving her wand back into her pocket as Hermione walked her over to Harry and Ron who were waiting for them. “What happened back there? Seemed a little serious.” Harry asked cautiously at seeing the angry look on Pansy’s face. Hermione cleared her throat and responded. “We had a little issue with people who don’t know how to keep their mouth shut.”

Blaise raised an eyebrow. “Tell me you cursed them, Parkinson.” Pansy hummed. “I didn’t because someone wanted to avoid confrontations.” She drawled, turning a sidelong gaze towards Hermione.

Ron glanced down at Pansy and Hermione’s linked hands and smirked. “Well, I’m sure you can tell us all about it when we get to the Common room hmm?” Blaise pouted. “That’s not fair, we aren’t in the same Common room.” Pansy rolled her eyes. “I’ll sneak into your Common room tomorrow or something, now I just want to sleep and never wake up.”

“Well then. To the Common room, it is!” Ron stated as he began walking towards the castle. They all followed him up though Blaise left them since the Slytherin and Gryffindor Common rooms were basically on opposite sides of the castle.

Pansy didn’t realize that she was still holding Hermione’s hand when she entered the Common room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave kudos and comments!


	3. Boggarts and Revelations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fears are complicated and illogical things.

It took nearly a week for Draco to return to class and it was clear that he was going to take every opportunity to blame his inability to work on his injury. If you could even call it that anymore.

Draco still had his arm in a sling when he entered their Potions class. Knowing how efficient Madam Pomfrey was there was no way his arm was still hurt but that didn’t bother Draco who seemed keen on making people believe that he was still injured.

“He’s really living it up isn’t he?” Ron muttered bitterly at the group of girls around Draco. Pansy snickered. “He is always one for the dramatics.” The redhead gestured towards Harry who had been forced to cut ingredients for Draco since the Slytherin was incapacitated. “And I’m sure Harry doesn’t appreciate that much.”

“Weasley! Help Malfoy cut his roots.” Snape snapped at the two Gryffindors. Pansy mockingly waved at Ron as the redhead begrudgingly went over to help Draco with his ingredients.

“He’s going to be insufferable isn’t he?” Theo sighed from his position next to Pansy. The Gryffindor snickered. “Well, he’s definitely going to get the best out of this.” Theo chuckled, taking a break from cutting the small roots on his table. “I suppose that would be expected of him.” Blaise joined the two. “Hey! Did you hear about what’s going to happen to Hagrid?”

Pansy raised an eyebrow at him. “I hope you understand how worrying that sounds.” Blaise shrugged. “I mean, it could be worrying? With the whole Hippogriff incident, Malfoy’s father is going to try to sack Hagrid.” Theo sighed heavily. “I wish I could say I was surprised.”

Suddenly a loud splash and a yelp were heard from the back of the classroom. Neville seemed to be having trouble with his potion.

Snape walked over to the boy and sneered as he stared down at the orange liquid in Neville’s cauldron. “Orange? Tell me Longbottom does anything get through that thick skull of yours? The mixture is supposed to be green, what on earth did you do to make it orange?” Neville seemed to be on the verge of tears when Hermione stepped in.

“Sir, I could help him-” Snape scowled at the bookworm. “I do not remember asking for your input, Granger. Next time I require your know-it-all tendencies I will call you.” He turned back to a cowering Neville. “Longbottom at the end of this lesson I will feed your toad this potion that you have created, maybe that will teach you to follow directions more.”

Pansy took pity on the boy and spent the rest of the class trying to give Neville advice to fix his potion with the help of Hermione. She could see from the corner of her eye that Draco seemed to be taunting Harry and Ron thought that had become a usual occurrence so she didn’t pay too much attention to it.

At the end of the class, Snape brought Neville to the front of the class and made him feed his toad a few drops of the Shrinking potion they had been making. The whole class held their breaths as they waited for something to happen.

To the Gryffindor's relief, the toad shrunk down to the size of a small stone. Snape gave Neville a pointed look before returning Trevor to his normal size. The potions master’s eye twitched at the cheers from the Gryffindors and he immediately said. “Five points from Gryffindor. Granger, I told you not to help Longbottom and Parkinson you should have known better. Class dismissed”

On their way to Defence against the Dark Arts Ron began to rant. “What was that? Neville lost points for getting something right? Why did you help him anyway, Hermione? At least Pansy was being subtle about it.” When no answer came Pansy sneered and looked back. “Look, darling, I understand if you’re angry but you could at least answer u-”

Pansy paused when she didn’t see Hermione behind her. Ron and Harry stopped as well and looked back in confusion. Harry frowned. “Wasn’t she right behind us?” Ron scratched his head in confusion. “Maybe we’re all going bonkers.” Pansy laughed. “It would be an honor to go bonkers with you two.”

Ron rolled his eyes good naturally. “Sure Pansy, we should probably go-”

“Hey.” A voice panted from behind them. The three Gryffindors jumped in fright and Pansy stammered when she saw Hermione standing in front of them, out of breath and carrying what looked to be heavy books. “Wait? How did you...We just saw you and you were gone and now you’re here? What-”

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. “Are you alright Pansy?” Ron jumped in. “‘Mione, where did you go? It’s like you were with us for a second and then poof, you were gone.” Hermione cleared her throat, patting down her disheveled hair. “Ah yes well, I just needed to get something oh no-” The seam of Hermione’s bag had torn a little and revealed the books that were stuffed inside.

Pansy stepped forward and reached out to take the books that Hermione was carrying. Harry frowned. “Why do you have so many books?” Hermione sent Pansy a grateful smile before turning towards Harry. “You know how many subjects I take, these are all for them.” Ron scoffed. “What do you mean? We only have Defence against the Dark Arts this afternoon.” 

Hermione huffed, adjusting her grip on her bag. “Well, instead of questioning me you could help me carry my books like Pansy oh so nobly did.” Pansy grinned. “Hear that Weasley? I’m noble.” Ron rolled his eyes. “Sure whatever, let’s just get to class.”

***-***-***

Professor Lupin was standing in front of a large closed closet when most of his students entered his classroom. He smiled at them and moved to stand near his desk. “Good afternoon students. Please put your books away, you will not be needing them today. You will only need your wands.”

“Oh, a practical lesson,” Harry whispered excitedly. Pansy carefully put down Hermione’s books on the girl’s desk before throwing her own bag onto the table she had chosen as her seat. Harry dragged the three towards the general area where Lupin wanted them to gather around.

Lupin clapped his hands together. “Now, I will require the help of a student for this demonstration. Do I have any volunteers?” Hermione’s hand immediately shot up but Lupin seemed to already have picked someone to call on and gestured towards a nervous-looking Neville. “Come here Neville, I’m sure you will perform splendidly.”

Neville nervously stepped forwards and Lupin turned back to the gathering of students. The closet behind him shook and half of the student jumped. Lupin chuckled. “Ah yes, it seems to be getting a little jumpy. Do not worry, there is simply a Boggart in there.” Pansy and Seamus snickered at the look of pure horror that Neville gave Lupin.

“Boggarts like closed and dark spaces. Closets, the space beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks I one met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. Now.” Lupin turned his full attention to the students in the room. “Firstly we must understand what a Boggart is.”

Hermione was the first to answer. “They’re shape-shifters. Boggarts can take the form of whatever it thinks will frighten us most.” Lupin nodded approvingly. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.” He placed a hand on the doorknob of the closet. “Now the Boggart in here hasn’t taken form yet since it hasn’t seen us. No one knows what a Boggart looks like when it is alone but when I let it out it will immediately take the form of whatever each of us fears most.”

Lupin gestured towards Harry. “Harry, can you tell me what advantage we have over the Boggart currently?” Harry cleared his throat before responding. “Uh...Because there’re so many of us it won’t know what shape to take?”

“Correct!” Lupin exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “When dealing with a Boggart it is always better to be with a group. It gets confused and doesn’t know what to turn into. I once saw a Boggart turn itself into half a slug with a headless torso attached to it, not remotely frightening.”

Ron scoffed. “To some people. If I saw that I would run.” Pansy smirked. “Oh? So you just don’t like insects in general Ron?”

The redhead was about to retort when Hermione cut in. “Spiders aren’t actually insects Pansy.” Pansy frowned. “They aren’t?” She and Ron asked at the same time. Hermione scowled at the two and gestured towards Lupin who was still explaining their instructions to them.

“What you want to do is imagine something amusing when the Boggart takes the form of whatever frightens you the most. Turn that fear into something funny and when you have a clear picture in mind you will shout this spell. Now repeat after me, riddikulus.” Lupin said the spell slowly.

“Riddikulus!” The class echoed. Pandy heard Draco mutter. “This class is ridiculous.” Under his breath and she couldn’t contain her snicker at that. Ron also appeared to have heard and seemed to be holding in his laughter.

Lupin nodded. “Good. Neville are you ready to demonstrate?” The nervous Gryffindor nodded. Lupin wrapped a comforting arm around the boy’s shoulder. “Now Neville, what are you afraid of?” Neville mumbled something under his breath and began turning red. Lupin leaned down. “Sorry Neville I didn’t quite catch that.”

“Professor Snape.”

Ron snorted while some of the students around them laughed. Neville offered them a guilty smile before Lupin joined in on some of the laughter. “Yes, Neville I think we are all just a little afraid of Professor Snape. I believe you live with your grandmother, correct?”

Neville nodded. “Yeah, but I don’t want it to turn into her either.” He said frantically. Harry’s shoulders shook slightly as he tried to contain his laughter, Pansy stared at Neville in amusement, maybe this year they would actually get a decent Defence against the Dark Arts class.

“What does your grandmother usually wear,” Lupin asked. Neville looked confused but he answered. “She wears this hat with a stuffed vulture with a green dress...Sometimes she also has a fox fur around her neck.” Lupin nodded. “Good. Can you close your eyes and picture those clothes clearly?” Neville shut his eyes and nodded. Lupin leaned down and whispered something in Neville’s ear. Pansy raised an eyebrow when she saw Neville chuckle at whatever Lupin had told him.

Lupin walked over to the closet and gripped the handle. “Ready Neville?” The Gryffindor reached for his wand and held it in front of him cautiously and nodded. Lupin opened the closet door and out stumbled the tall, lanky figure of one Severus Snape.

Neville shakily held his wand out and stuttered out. “R-riddikulus.” A sharp whipping sound was heard and the Boggart changed. Neville opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Snape standing in front of him, but this Snape was different. This Snape had on an ankle-length green dress and heels. Pansy leaned against Ron as they both laughed. The Boggart was looking around frantically, wondering why everyone was laughing.

Lupin clapped. “Good work Neville, now all of you form a line and you’ll each get to face the Boggart.”

Parvati was the next student to go after Neville and the Boggart took one look at her before turning into a giant snake. Parvati set her face in a determined look and shouted. “Riddikulus!” The snake suddenly became a deflating balloon that darted around the room producing sounds that apparently all of them were immature enough to laugh at.

Daphne went next and the Boggart turned into a limping mummy. The spell was shouted again and the corpse was suddenly assaulted with water as a rain cloud formed above it. The bandages of the mummy began falling to the floor as more water poured over it, eventually revealing a dirty skeleton.

“Nice work! Who’s next?” Lupin called, smiling as he saw how happy the students were. Ron was next, and the Boggart obviously turned into a giant spider. Pansy was surprised by how quickly the redhead was able to collect himself and charm some roller skates on the spider.

The class erupted into more laughter as the spider skidded across the floor, not able to control its own legs.

Blaise pushed Pansy forward. “Come on Parkinson! What’s your deepest fear?” Pansy rolled her eyes. “This won’t take long Zabini.” She joked and stepped towards the fumbling spider. Pansy’s grin vanished when she saw the Boggart’s form shift into a huge hulking beast.

The werewolf before her snarled before roaring at her. Lupin looked like he was about to step in but Pansy immediately flicked her wand towards the beast, shouting riddikulus. She chuckled when the werewolf vanished and was replaced with a dog that seemed to be content chasing its own tail.

Pansy walked back to Ron and the others while Hermione went next. The Boggart turned into McGonagall and began to lecture Hermione on the awful grades she had obviously never gotten. Hermione quickly got rid of the Boggart and Harry was pushed to the front of the line. He was smiling as the Gryffindors cheered him on.

The room suddenly got cold and the Boggart seemed to chuckle before shifting again. Harry froze when he saw the floating, cloaked figure in front of him. Pansy held her breath when she saw the Boggart turn into a Dementor, she didn’t know if Harry seemed ready to face it, the boy hadn’t even moved yet. The Dementor lunged down towards Harry but Lupin immediately moved to stand in front of Harry.

The Boggart turned into a shiny sphere that looked like the moon and Lupin was quick to shout a spell and turn it into a golf ball that immediately flew back into the closet. Lupin shut the closet door and turned back towards the class. “Well, I believe we can label that lesson as a success. Five points to each person who tackled the Boggart and five points to Hermione and Harry. For homework simply read the chapter on Boggarts in your books and summarize it. Let’s make it due Monday alright? Class dismissed.”

While exiting the classroom Blaise and Ron were surprisingly holding a civil conversation. “What you did to that spider was hilarious Weasley. I definitely wouldn’t have thought of that.” Blaise praised excitedly. Ron turned a little red and nodded. “Yeah, that was hands down the best DADA class we’ve ever had.” Hermione agreed. “That was rather fun.”

Daphne chuckled. “Yours was good too Pansy. Though I never knew you were afraid of werewolves.” Ron snickered. “Yeah, Pansy. I thought you were one with the wolf?” Pansy stuck her tongue out at him while Blaise frowned. “What?”

Ron gestured vaguely. “We tried these voice changing candies earlier and Pansy got a wolf one.” Harry nodded, chuckling. “Yeah, Pansy chased Neville through the Common room while growling at him.” Pansy rolled her eyes. “Yes well, let’s not forget Harry the steam engine.” Ron guffawed at the memory.

Harry pouted. “That wasn’t funny Pansy, I had steam coming out of my ears for ten minutes and it felt like someone was ripping my head open.”

Blaise snickers. “Hey, can we start calling you that? Potter the steam engine?” Pansy leaned against the wall as her shoulders shook from laughter. Ron had completely collapsed onto the floor while Daphne had her head on Pansy’s shoulder and was gripping one of her arms to keep herself upright. Even Hermione was laughing with them and seemed to be trying to hide her amused face behind her books.

“Guys,” Harry whined as their group headed towards the Great Hall.

***-***-***

Over the next few weeks, Defence against the Dark Arts had easily become everyone’s favorite subject. The lessons were fun and interactive and Pansy was actually able to finish the homework in one sitting.

Some of the Slytherin still didn’t like Lupin though but for rather deplorable reasons. Draco was constantly saying that Lupin’s robes were always ripped or dirty and was convinced that that was a comment on his character.

Care of Magical Creatures had definitely decreased in popularity. It wasn’t exactly Hagrid’s fault but after the whole Hippogriff fiasco, the half-giant had decided to show them less harmful creatures which had essentially made the class more boring.

One class that Pansy was definitely tired of taking was Divination. Every time she so much as looked at Trelawny the woman was staring at her with a pitiful look and seemed to even be close to tears. Lavender had also been giving her knowing glances whenever they were in Divination. Lucky for Pansy, Parvati was usually able to stop Lavender from staring too much but those two were definitely some of the only students that were genuinely interested in Divination.

There was also a group of Slytherin girls who, unlike Lavender and Parvati, had no problem with staring at Pansy and snickering to themselves whenever she caught them staring. Daphne had told her that those girls were probably just trying to scare her and usually Pansy would trust whatever it was that Daphne said but this was constant and there was no way Pansy could just chalk it up as mockery.

Another thing that she was starting to worry about was Quidditch.

Quidditch season was going to start soon and, since it was going to be Wood’s last year, the seventh year was adamant on them winning that year. Wood had gathered them together right before their practice and made sure to hammer in the fact that they had to win.

“This is our last chance...my last chance to win the Quidditch Cup.” Wood started. “Gryffindor hasn’t won for seven years but it’s okay. We’ve had the worst luck. Injuries, then the tournament got canceled last year but we also know that we have the best team ever.” Wood exclaimed as he gestured towards them. “We’ve got three amazing chasers, two spectacular beaters-”

Fred snorted, elbowing George and Pansy. “Aw, don’t say things like that Oliver, you’ll make us blush.”

Wood ignored what he said and continued on. “And we’ve got a seeker who has never failed to win us a match! And me.” He finished lamely. Angelina chuckled. “We think you’re very good too Oliver.” Pansy nodded. “Yeah, a real keeper.” George snickered at that.

“My point is-” Wood continued. “We should have won the last two years. With Harry on the team, I thought I would finally be able to see my name on that trophy.” He trailed off sadly. Katie stood, a determined look on her face. “This is going to be our year.” Pansy whooped along with the twins. “Yeah! We’ll get you that trophy Oliver!” Harry joined in as well.

With that positive attitude, they all headed out to practice. The weather was getting colder and wetter but despite the rain and the mud they still trained three times a week. That night, when Pansy returned to the Common room she immediately went to bed, not bothering to change out of her dirty clothes, though she did have the decency to take off her muddy shoes before laying on her bed.

Luckily, she managed to get a full night’s rest but right at dawn, she was awoken by the sounds of someone screaming.

“What the bloody hell is that thing doing?!”

Someone shouted from the Common room. Pansy groaned loudly before forcing her eyes to open. She pulled herself out of her bed and trudged down into the Common room where more screaming could be heard.

“Why is it eating it in front of us?”

“Aw, clever Crookshanks. Did you catch that all by yourself.” Hermione cooed from her position on one of the couches.

Pansy rubbed her forehead as she collapsed onto the couch in the Common room. “What are you two yelling about this early in the bloody morning?” She muttered, leaning her head against Hermione’s shoulders.

Ron gestured towards the orange, bushy cat that was sitting on the table calmly flicking its tail as it held a dead bird in its mouth. “That thing is eating in front of us. I already had to hide Scabbers in my bag because of it.” Pansy rolled her eyes. “It’s a cat Ron, leave it be.” Ron was about to say something more when Crookshanks pounced towards the bag that was laying on Ron’s lap.

“STOP THAT CAT!!!” Ron exclaimed as Scabbers ran out of his bag. Crookshanks immediately started giving chase to the rat while Ron was frantically trying to catch Scabbers.

Pansy lazily watched this event play out, groaning in discomfort when Hermione had to get up to get Crookshanks. Eventually, Ron managed to catch Scabbers and he went back to his seat on the couch, glaring at Crookshanks. “There’s something off about that bloody cat of yours Hermione.”

The bookworm scoffed. “Crookshanks is a cat Ron, cats chase rats so he doesn’t know that it’s wrong.” Ron grimaced. “No, that cat understood me when I said that Scabbers was in my bag, something's off.” Hermione rolled her eyes at the panicking redhead. “Crookshanks could smell him, Ron.”

“Can you two please shut it, you already disturbed my sleep. The least you could do is be a comfortable pillow.” Pansy mumbled tiredly. Ron snickered. “Oh? And I’m guessing you mean only Hermione right?”

“Sod off.”

***-***-***

The first day at Hogsmeade was a disaster.

Well, not exactly a disaster but it might as well have been.

Harry was not allowed to go since his uncle never signed the permission slip and that already cut their group down. Next, Ron and Hermione seemed to be in a constant war because of the natural instincts of their pets which neither of them was responsible for, and Pansy was caught in the middle.

During the entire trip to Hogsmead Pansy made sure to stay with Fred and George who seemed adamant on coaching her on what things from Zonko she should get to prank the professors. By the time she had returned from Zonko’s joke store, Hermione and Ron seemed to have started a silent war in which neither was allowed to speak to the other.

Pansy rolled her eyes at them and led the two back to the castle. There was no point in going to Hogsmead if they weren’t going to enjoy it and besides, they were allowed to do this every weekend.

“Guys, can you please say something to each other,” Pansy whined as they walked up the stairs to the Gryffindor Common room. Hermione huffed. “I will speak but only if Ronald apologizes.” Ron scoffed. “Apologize? For what? It was your cat who started this.” Pansy stepped in forcefully. “Okay enough! Can you two at least be civil when your pets aren’t fighting?”

The two Gryffindors begrudgingly agreed and Pansy was quick to turn her backs on them and head towards the Gryffindor Common room, oh how she wished Harry was here, he was way better at the whole solving conflicts gig.

When they began approaching the general area where the Gryffindor Common room was Pansy frowned when she recognized the huge crowd that was around the painting.

“What happened?” She asked Dean, who had been standing off to the side. The dark-skinned Gryffindor shrugged. “I don’t know, but the Fat Lady is gone. Someone went to go get Dumbledore not too long ago-”

As soon as he said that, Dumbeldore came bustling up the staircase. The students parted as he approached the painting and that was when Pansy was finally able to see what had happened. The painting that had previously been home to the Fat Lady was empty and had three long tears running down the middle as if something with long, sharp claws had sliced the painting open.

“Who could have done this?” Dumbledore mused to himself.

“Oh, that Black sure isn’t a very understanding fellow huh?” Peeves jeered as he floated around them. Dumbledore turned to Peeves. “Peeves, do you know where the Fat Lady is?” Peeves laughed. “Oh yes! She was seen hiding on the fourth floor, she was awfully ashamed of what happened” Dumbledore continued. “Peeves. Did you see who did this?”

Peeves grinned widely. “Of course! It was Sirius Black!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm gonna take a little break from writing this.
> 
> No, I will not abandon this fic but I prob wont be updating in the next two weeks or so cause school is killing me and i obviously need to prioritize school work and stuff :/


	4. A warning sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Escaped dark wizards and dementors? Pansy honestly didn't what else to expect from this year.

To no one’s surprise, the Gryffindors were all directed to the Great Hall along with the three other houses.

They all gathered there as they waited for Dumbledore to explain what would happen next.

“I can’t believe he’s actually here,” Ron muttered in disbelief.

Pansy hummed in agreement. “Yeah, isn’t Hogwarts supposed to be impenetrable or something?” She mumbled as she watched Harry try and fail to contain his panic.

“Apparently not,” Seamus added from his position on the ground.

Eventually, Dumbledore and the other professors gathered in front of the crowd of students to explain the situation to them.

“Students.” Dumbledore started. “The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I’m afraid that for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want Prefects to stand guard over the entrance to the Hall and I’m leaving the head boy and girl in charge.” He turned towards Percy and nodded. “I expect any disturbances to be reported directly to me, send word with one of the ghosts.”

Dumbledore was about to exit with the other teachers but stopped.

“Oh yes.” He pondered, before clapping his hands together and making the Great Hall’s floor fill with sleeping bags. “You’ll be needing this. Sleep well.”

Pansy stared down at her designated sleeping bag and scoffed. “What the bloody hell is this even supposed to do? If the professors are all out searching for Black couldn’t he easily just come here and get Harry? I’m sure a group of sixth years won’t be enough to hold him back.”

“Pansy please,” Hermione muttered. “Try to have faith in Dumbledore, I’m sure he knows what he’s doing.”

“You said the same thing about Lockhart and you saw how that turned out right?” Pansy answered back sharply, letting her irritation get the better of her.

Ron hummed. “Do you really think Black got in?”

Pansy shrugged. “Dumbledore sure seems to believe so. Not that I know how Black would have even gotten in. Do you reckon he apparated or something?”

“He might have used a disguise?” Harry offered as he snuggled into his sleeping bag.

Hermione scoffed. “Honestly, am I the only one who bothered reading  _ Hogwarts, A History _ ?” The bookworm asked with a slightly offended tilt to her tone.

“Eh probably,” Ron answered. “Why?”

“The castle is protected by much more than just walls. There are all sorts of enchantments to keep others out. You can’t just apparate in here and I’m sure that any disguise would be fruitless when it comes to playing the Dementors.” Hermione said in one breath. “Besides Filch knows all of the secret passages so there’s no way-”

“Lights are going out now!” Percy yelled loudly much to Pansy’s annoyance. “Everyone get into your sleeping bag and no more talking!”

“If he keeps acting like that I know a place those candles are gonna end up going,” Pansy grumbled under her breath as she burrowed further into her sleeping bag. Ron snickered at hearing her remark though it did earn them a stern look from Percy who Pansy swore looked more and more like an offended flamingo in the dark.

Pansy laid awake in silence for a good hour, simply staring up at the dark ceiling of the Great Hall that currently was enchanted to look like the night sky. She could hear the different footsteps of professors entering and leaving the Great Hall as they checked on the sleeping students.

“Any sign of him professor?” Percy’s voice rang out from behind Pansy. Pansy made sure to lay still when the familiar footsteps of Dumbledore approached.

“No. Is everything alright here?”

Percy answered boastfully. “Everything is under control, sir.”

Dumbledore hummed. “Good. There’s no point in moving them all now so I suppose we’ll just wait till morning.”

“Headmaster.”

Pansy stiffened slightly at how close Snape’s voice sounded but luckily none of them realized that Pansy was still awake.

“The whole of the third floor has been searched, he’s not there. Filch checked the dungeons and there’s nothing there either.” Snape informed Dumbledore in a tired tone.

“What about the astronomy tower? Or Sybill’s office?” Dumbledore pressed.

Snape shook his head. “There is nothing. The whole of the school was searched and the Dementors did a second patrol of the grounds. Black isn’t here anymore.”

“Very well Severus.” Dumbledore sighed. “I didn’t expect Black to linger anyways.”

“Tell me Dumbledore, do you have any theories on how he could have gotten in?” Snape asked. Pansy heard that and held her breath, she didn’t want to miss this bit of the conversation.

She heard Dumbledore sigh. “Many, each as unlikely as the next.”

Snape crossed his arms over his chest and scoffed. “You remember the conversation we had Headmaster? Just before the start of term?” He muttered, clearly not wanting anyone to hear him and Pansy had to move her head off of her pillow to properly hear him.

“I do Severus,” Dumbledore responded curtly as if he didn’t want to revisit this conversation that Snape was mentioning.

“It seems.” Snape started. “Almost impossible that Black could have entered the school without inside help. I did express my concerns when you appointed-”

“I do not believe that a single person inside this castle would help Black enter.” Dumbledore cut Snape off sharply, much to Pansy’s surprise. She had rarely heard Dumbledore sound this serious and curt about anything, but clearly, if Snape was expressing doubts of that caliber then that must mean that something was wrong in the castle.

When Snape didn’t respond Dumbledore sighed. “I’ll go check on the Dementors, I told them that I would inform them of when our search was complete.”

“Didn’t they offer to help search the castle professor?” Percy cut in, reminding Pansy that yes, he was still there.

Dumbledore hummed in acknowledgment. “Yes but I’m afraid that no Dementor will cross the threshold of this school as long as I am Headmaster.”

Pansy listened quietly as Dumbledore left. Snape remained in the area a little longer, Pansy could feel his gaze land on her for a second before he walked out of the Great Hall as well.

With silence finally returning to the Hall, Pansy settled into her sleeping bag more and tried to get some sleep, which was definitely not an easy feat considering what she had just overheard.

***-***-***

All anyone would talk about for the next few days was Sirius Black.

Students had come up with so many theories as to how he got in that Pansy couldn’t even keep track of them at this point.

Another change had been the portrait to the Gryffindor Common room. While the Fat Lady was still out of commission another portrait had taken her place. Tragically that portrait was Sir Cadogan.

If Pansy had a Galleon for every time she had wanted to strangle the new portrait she would be richer than Draco.

Sir Cadogan spent most of the time challenging any Gryffindor that tried to enter the Common room to a duel and coming up with extremely difficult passwords which he changed twice a day at least. Pansy had given up on remembering any of them at that point.

Teachers had also started to pay close attention to Harry, though Pansy couldn’t really blame them. Sirius Black was after him after all and Potter would need all the protection that he could get especially if Black had managed to actually enter the castle unnoticed.

As weeks passed, Pansy began to realize that the weather was getting drearier and drearier with each passing day.

Despite that Wood still made her and the Gryffindor team train out on the pitch every other day. Pansy swore that if all of her homework didn’t kill her it would be the cold that she was inevitably going to get from being forced to practice for hours outside in the rain.

Pansy was partially relieved when Wood told them during one of their practices that they would be playing Hufflepuff instead of Slytherin due to Draco still being out of commission for his ‘injury’. Though Wood believed that it was because Flint didn't want to play in this kind of weather, not that Pansy could blame him.

It had been raining since the early morning and had escalated into what would probably qualify as a storm.

“There’s nothing wrong with Malfoy’s arm!” Harry exclaimed. “He’s faking it!”

Pansy shrugged. “Not like we can prove it, Potter.”

Wood grit his teeth in annoyance. “This is bad, we’ve been training thinking we were gonna play Slytherin only to get Hufflepuff. They’re playing style is way different than Slytherin’s and besides they have a new seeker Cedric Diggory-”

Katie giggled at that, causing Wood to pause and turn to her with an impatient look. “What is it?”

“He’s the tall handsome one, no?” Angelina clarified with a bored expression, though it was clear that she didn’t enjoy the topic change that had just occurred.

Fred snickered, sending Angelina a mocking glance as he elbowed Katie teasingly. “I see that you have a thing for tall handsome people hmm?”

Katie rolled her eyes dramatically and sighed. “I am but a slave to my preferences.”

Wood’s eye twitched slightly. “This is what I feared, can you all take this seriously?”

“Eh, Hufflepuff is a push-over dude. Beating them won’t be hard.” George offered with a noncommittal grunt.

“NO! This is not the time to let ourselves go! Slytherin is trying to wrong-foot us and we have to win!” Wood exclaimed loudly, causing half of the team to jump.

Pansy held her hands out and chuckled. “Oliver, calm down, we’ve been training non-stop and we still have time before the match okay? Don’t go all mad coach on us.”

Wood ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “You’re right. Okay, let’s wrap up practice, and then you can all go to your next classes.”

Turns out ‘wrapping up practice’ took longer than it should have. By the time Harry and Pansy pushed through their Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom they were already ten minutes late and out of breath from running through the halls.

“Sorry we’re late Professor Lupin, practice went on for lon-”

Pansy paused in her explanation when she saw Snape sitting at the teacher’s desk at the end of the room instead of Lupin.

“The lesson started ten minutes ago Parkinson, Potter, but since Parkinson seems to have the right idea in apologizing I’ll only take five points from Gryffindor, now sit down.” Snape retorted curtly, barely even lifting his head from where he had been looking at a book.

Pansy moved to sit near Hermione who she didn’t even remember seeing all day but of course Harry always needed to get one last word in.

“Where is Professor Lupin?”

Snape’s eye twitched and the potion professor glared up at Harry. “Professor Lupin is feeling ill today and he has asked me to take over his class until he feels better. Now, I believe I told you to sit down? Parkinson has done me the pleasure of doing so and I am beginning to wonder why you haven’t done the same.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Harry pressed.

Snape stood and took a step towards Harry. “Nothing life-threatening, that is all you need to know. Now sit or I will be taking fifty points.”

To Pansy’s relief, Harry strode forward and took a seat at the desk behind her. Snape nodded, satisfied with what had just happened, and turned back to the rest of the class. “Now, as I was saying before Potter and Parkinson so rudely interrupted, Professor Lupin hasn’t told me what you have been studying so far in this lesson so-”

“Sir.” Hermione cut in. “We’ve done Boggarts, Red Caps, Kappas and Grindylows. We were supposed to be going on to-”

“Be quiet.” Snape cut in coldly, eyeing Hermione with barely veiled disdain. “I did not ask for information I was simply commenting on Professor Lupin’s lack of organization.”

“He’s the best DADA teacher we’ve ever had.” Seamus cut in. Pansy let out a small hum of agreement but after seeing the menacing look that Snape was giving all of them she stopped.

Snape scoffed. “You are easily satisfied, Lupin is hardly challenging you. I would expect first years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows. No today we will be discussing werewolves.”

“But sir,” Hermione spoke up again. “We aren’t due to start werewolves yet, we’re supposed to do Hinkypunks-”

“Miss Granger,” Snape stated calmly with barely contained annoyance. “I believe that I am the one teaching the lesson here, not you, now I want everyone to turn to page three hundred and ninety-four.” When none of them seemed to move Snape raised his voice. “Now!”

Many students rushed to open their textbooks to the right page, not keen on facing Snape’s rath for longer than necessary.

“Now.” Snape began. “Who here can tell me the difference between a wolf and a werewolf?”

Unsurprisingly, no one besides Hermione raised their hand to answer. Snape’s careful gaze looked around the room with disdain. He sighed in disappointment and stated sharply. “No one? How sad. Professor Lupin didn’t even tell you the basics?”

“Please sir.” Hermione insisted. “The werewolf differs from the true wolf in several ways. The snout of the werewolf for one is-”

Snape immediately cut her off and leveled a glare towards her. “That is the second time you’ve spoken out of term Miss Granger, that’ll be five points from Gryffindor and I suggest you keep your know-it-all tendencies to yourself before I make it fifty.”

Needless to say, no one enjoyed the lesson. Snape spent the whole time criticizing Lupin’s teaching method and the class's knowledge. So much to the point that when the bell rang, signaling the end of class, everyone immediately stood and tried to get out of the classroom as quickly as possible.

But of course before letting out Snape made sure to give them as much homework as he possibly could. “I want a three foot long essay on the differences between animagi and werewolves on my desk by next class.”

Pansy managed to hold in her groan of annoyance at hearing that.

A three foot long essay?

What was Snape thinking?

“I swear to Merlin he shouldn’t be allowed to do this.” Ron muttered in annoyance as they walked towards the Gryffindor Common room.

Hermione adjusted her hold on her textbooks before shrugging. “We can’t do much about it now. You should probably start working on the essay today.”

“No way.” Pansy cut in, laughing in disbelief. “Why can’t you just write it and let us copy it?” She whined.

Ron snorted when Hermione immediately turned to give Pansy a disapproving stare. “Pansy Parkinson that would be cheating!”

Pansy grumbled. “It’s not cheating, it’s helping-”

“Don’t even try to get out of this one.” Hermione muttered.

Pansy pouted but let the issue go, instead she changed tactics. “Okay, okay, what if you helped me study instead?”

“That.” Hermione began. “I will help you with.”

“Wait Pansy when is your birthday?” Harry asked randomly.

Pansy turned to the boy and was about to answer when Hermione gasped. “You’ve been friends for nearly three years and you never asked when her birthday was?”

“Uh, Mione it's not that big a deal.” Pansy started but Hermione quickly cut her off.

“Oh, and I suppose you don’t know either of our birthdays then?” Hermione asked, eyebrows raised.

Pansy laughed nervously at that. “No, no, no, no of course I know when your birthday is.” She stressed out, avoiding eye contact with Hermione.

“Uhu, sure. Well anyways we need to get started on the essay.” Hermione hummed, reaching to grab Pansy and Ron’s hand before dragging them to the Gryffindor Common room with Harry happily walking behind them.

***-***-***

The next day was the highly anticipated game against Gryffindor and Hufflepuff.

Pansy had honestly thought that it would have been an easy win but like nearly everything else in her life she was mistaken.

No one could have predicted what was to happen, not even Trelawney measly predictions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hfdlsjk sry ive been gone for so long a bunch of stuff came up ;-;


End file.
